Evening Sky
by Sakuyan
Summary: The most painful thing was loving another and knowing you could never have them, simply because the world condemns it. Is there ever a hope for a romance that jeopardizes your very life? Gerome/Inigo.


**A/N: **Inspired by "Evening Sky" by Ailee.

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**Evening Sky  
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The world they lived in forced them apart. In cliché romance novels, the authors spoke of how love would overcome all odds. It gave false hope to people who were in a hopeless situation with the emotion.

The world was against two people of the same gender being together. Those who were found guilty of the crime were cast away from their families. They were thrown hateful words, treated worse than dirt, and in extreme cases, their lives were cut short by beatings. It was cruel, but to almost all of the people in the continent, homosexuality was immoral. It was wrong. It was against their beliefs, against their gods.

If Ylisse found out their prince harbored feelings for another male, they would toss him out of the country with nothing but the clothes on his back. Inigo knows this, which is why he says nothing about it. He puts on a brave face, he puts on a womanizing forte, all because he wants to protect the royal family's name and his parents.

His mother, always one with attention to detail, pulls him aside one morning. She tells him she knows, she knows of his feelings towards another man. The prince prepares himself to be cast out, but what happens is the opposite. The Feroxi dancer hugs him, cries for him, tells him she's sorry that he can't experience the love she has with her husband.

Inigo wants to cry as well. Tears prick at the corner of his eyes, but he blinks them away. He puts on his brave face once more, hugs his mother back, murmurs that it's okay. He doesn't mind, he says. _Such a lie, _he thinks with a hint of bitterness to it.

For years, he continues to smile. His brave face never wavers. He watches the one he loves become closer to Morgan, the daughter of Chrom's best friend. The prince says his congratulations when Gerome approaches him one evening and tells him of his engagement.

That night, he cries himself to sleep. It was then that he knew he lost the one he loves forever. In a world where heterosexuality was deemed normal and homosexuality was frowned upon, it was normal for gay men and women to lose those they cared about to a heterosexual marriage.

The wedding happens three months later. The wyvern rider asked him a month prior to be the best man, and so, Inigo stands next to the one he can never have. He sees the man smile, a warm expression he never saw before, when Morgan walks down the aisle with a nervous expression adorning her face.

The prince blinks back tears as Libra recites the vows. He puts on his brave face, praying to Naga that it doesn't break, when Gerome murmurs "I do" to the woman across from him. Inigo wishes that it could be him the man said those words to. In his mind, he smirks bitterly. In this world, that would never happen.

A single tear strays down his face when the two kiss. His smile wavers, his lip trembles, but he begs to the gods to let him last a little longer. They grant his wish. After the newlyweds walk down the aisle and out of the church, the prince runs out of the building.

He wants to forget. Forget the man who broke his heart, forget what emotions were. He wants to forget it all.

Inigo stops in the field that they found Robin in almost a year ago. The flowers blow gently in the wind and leaves rustle in the trees. He sits under the shade the lone tree provides. He stares at his hands, tears flowing down his cheeks. It was over. Gerome was lost to him. There was nothing he could do.

The prince stays there for hours. He hears a voice call to him, causing his eyes to open. Had he fallen asleep? He rubs his eyes, rimmed red from tears, and looks at the person who called his name. His heart stops. It had to be him, didn't it? It had to be the man who shattered him.

Gerome looks at him with concerned eyes. He reaches forward, his hand touching Inigo's cheek before wiping away tears with his thumb. His mouth moves, but the other doesn't listen to his words. His heart is thudding in his ears to the point it's all he hears. _Stop it, _he commands, _Gerome is off limits now._

"Your mother told me," are the words the man utters to get his heart to freeze. The prince's blood feels like ice coursing through his veins. That was it. Gerome came to find him to kill him. It was commonplace. Royal or not, if you were gay, your life could be lost if the wrong person found out.

Stars twinkle overhead. Inigo smiles a bit. If he died by the wyvern rider's hands, he supposed that there could be worse ways to go. He knows people won't care once the man says the reason he died was because he was gay. _In fact, they'll rejoice that a gay prince was killed before the "disease" spread._

Gerome pulls the smaller man in his arms. The prince blinks, unsure of what the other male was going to do. Stab a knife in his back while he was in his arms? Slit his throat and watch his life's blood bleed on the shimmering grass, forever staining the green with red?

"My marriage is a farce," the older man murmurs. Inigo feels his eyes widening as Gerome pulls him closer. "Morgan understands. She knows that I've loved you since we were children."

"C-Children? W-What?" is all the prince manages to say.

A nod is his answer. Inigo has no idea how to react. He says nothing for several minutes, yet in those minutes, the man he loves does nothing but bury his head in sapphire locks. "Why did you never tell me?" the younger male finally utters.

"You are a prince. I am a commoner. On top of that, I had no idea if you felt the same, and I would rather keep my life." Gerome replies. "However, after the ceremony, Olivia told me how you felt." He chuckles a bit. "Heh. In this world, both of us could be killed if the wrong ones found this out."

Inigo looks at the other man. He wraps his arms around him, nuzzling his face in the wyvern rider's neck. "We'll keep it a secret," he whispers. He pulls away and gently presses his lips against the others'. "Okay?"

"Secret." Gerome tries the word before a small smile tugs at his lips. "Fine."

For several years, the world saw Gerome and Morgan as a happy couple and Inigo as nothing but a casanova. Until their deaths, they met at the tree that started their relationship, under the evening sky.

In the afterlife, retaining their youthful forms, they were no longer each other's secret, and could have the life they always wanted.

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_**Fin.  
**Note : I wanted the beginning to have a feeling of hopelessness but the end to have them be happy. That is all._


End file.
